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Editorial

Welcome to your July issue. I am delighted to have been asked by the Editor, Dr Jon Sutton, to write this editorial as your new President.
The Psychologist is received by all 48,000 members, plus many outside agencies. It serves a vital function in informing and provoking debate. This month, in addition to the plethora of regular features, announcements and adverts, there are articles on weird beliefs and conspiracy theories. Stuart Wilson asks whether we are hardwired to believe in supernatural agents and to seek meaning in our existence. Scepticism, it seems, is unnatural, 'unsexy' and cognitively demanding. In a similar vein, Swami and Coles ask why some people are prone to conspiracy theories while others are not. The answer may lie in individual differences in intellectual curiosity, an active imagination and a proclivity for new ideas. Enjoy!
Dr Gerry Mulhern (President)

Contents

The truth is out there Viren Swami and Rebecca Coles on belief in conspiracy theories
Stuart Wilson on the naturalness of weird beliefs

Between a rock and a hard place Miranda Horvath and Jennifer Brown look at the vicious cycle for rape victims

Social exclusion - an addictive context Matt Baker, joint winner in our student writer competition, shares his views on drug use and rehabilitation

Images of the future, drawn from the past Stefania de Vito, joint winner in our student writer competition, on episodic future thinking

On loss and mourning Renee Lertzman talks with psychoanalyst and author Darian Leade

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